Rail-joint.



J. L. THOMAS.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 16, 1913.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

JAMES L. THOMAS, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

RAIL-JOINT.

inserts.

Application filed December 16, 1913.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern Bc it known that I, J Mins L. THOMAS, acitizen of the United States, residing at Vilmington, 'in the county oitNewcastle and State ot Delaware, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Rail- Joints; and I do hereby declare the :following tobe a t'ull, clear, and exact description ot the saine, reference beinghad, to the accompanying drawings, forming part ot this specification,and to the figures and letters oi reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to rail joints and is designed to overcomedetects it'ound to eX- ist in rail joints as heretofore constructed; tosupply a joint ot such construction that it will etl'ectually connectthe adjacent ends ot the rail; permit ot all necessary movements tocompensate tor expansion and contraction and so support and reinforcethe head ot' the rail as to eliminate practically all danger from arupture or breaking down et the end o1 the ."ail under extreme tratiicconditions.

A further object oit the invention is to eitectually eliminate alldanger oit bolt heads or nuts being sheared ott by a derailed wheeltraveling along the side of the rail and to provide means whereby, whenso desired, the rails may be used e'tfectivcly for an electric circuitwithout the necessity ot separate bonding means, such as is customarilyemploycd to supplement the joint and torni a path 'for the currentaround the meeting 'laces or edges of the parts.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,-ll`igure 1 is a sectionalperspective View of the joint, the plane of the section beingsubstantially in a transverse plane intersecting one of the connectingstems; Fig. 2 is a section in a horizontal plane intersecting theconnecting` stems and showing the top of the chair and lower portionsoit the joint bars; Fig. 3 is a detail section in a vertical planethrough the extreme ends ot the rails and a portion of the rail chair;Fig. t is a perspective view looking at the inner side of one of thejoint bars with portions broken away and in section to show theconstruction and arrangement ot the parts; and Fig. is a perspectiveview ot the apertured retaining bar with which the key bar coperates forobtaining a wedging action on the connecting stems.

Lilie letters of reference in the several figures indicate the sameparts.

In said drawings, the adjacent ends ol two rails are indicated at A, A,said rails being such as are ordinarily employed, save that the boltholes in the webs are termed in position to receive stems l which arepreferably termed rigid with a retaining bar C adapted to lic along oneside ot' the rail web, and pret'erably ot relatively small transversedimension, but of do\'etail jlorni, whereby it is adapted -for seatingin a dovetail recess (Z in an inside joint. bar l). The cross sectionalshape et the retaining bar (l and recess in the joint har D is such thata close :tit is maintained between these parts and I Jrelierably such alit as will require the parts to be driven together longitudinally ofthe rail; thus, the retaining bar having been positioned, the joint baris driven longitudinally over the same until it reaches a position wherethe retaining bar is entirely concealed within it, except for au enlargement or head C at one end, against which the end oit the joint harseats, so as to prevent independent longitudinal movement ot the jointbar in that direction. The ends ot the stems B referred to are notchedon thc top and bottom sides, as slimvn, at I); thus forming, as it were7heads upon the said stems adapted to ovcrlie a key bar which will bepresent-ly described.

Over the ends ot stems B there is placed a retaining bar E, preleri blyol dove-tail shape in cross section, with apertures therethrough lor thestems, and ribs or filling pieces E between the apertures. lVhen thesaid retaining bar is in place on the ends ot the stems the notches inthc stems and faces ot the bar form slide ways along` the upper andlower sides oi the stems in which the two arms of a key bar l? may slideinto position, so as to etl'ectually lock the parts together. A wedging`action is secured by giving the retainingl bar and key bar anappropriate taper 'from end to end, the taper being only sufficient tomake a tight .fit when the parts are brought to their final seats,although, as will be presently described, provision is made whereby thekey bar may be adjusted for taking up wear or -lor insuring a tight titat the initial adjustment of the parts. The retaining bar and kcy bartogether are ot dove tail shape in cross section and are adapted to seatin a correspondingly shaped longitudinal recess in an outside joint barGr. In the preferred construction the key bar is normally heldadjustably in the outside joint bar Gr by an adjusting screw H journaledin the end of the joint bar and having threaded connection with the endof the key bar, as will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig.l.

The key bar and retaining bar together form a close tit in the dove tailrecess of the joint bar, the object being to require the joint bar andkey bar to be driven into place in the seating of the joint, and themovement of the joint bar in one direction is preferably limited by ahead E2 on the retaining bar, as shown.

Movements of the joint bars in the opposite direction from the heads onthe retaining bars are prevented by spikes of the usual character whichmay be driven down through the edges or ends of the joint bars, but inthe preferred construction illustrated, the whole joint is mounted onand seated in a rail chair K having on its under surface the usual orpreferred tie engaging ribs 7a, and in its upper surface a recess forthe rail base and at each side of said seat a recess or groove L for thereception of downwardly extending flanges or projections L on the lowerouter edges of the joint bars. The flanges or projections L which seatin the grooves or recesses L afford a very wide bearing on the railchair, and in effect broaden the rail base in addition to firmlyanchoring the same against any lateral movement. The spikes for holdingthe parts in place on the ties may extend down through both the lowerflange-like portions of the joint bars and the chair so as to form anadditional fastening or connecting means between these parts, and whilethe joint itself is of such construction that it would constitute a goodbond between the rail ends, the bonding` effect is preferably increasedby recessing or chambering the rail chair at the center and locating insuch chamber a fiat or bowed spring bonding member M, the edges of whichare sharpened or serrated for engaging the lower faces of the rail baseson opposite sides of the joint so as to establish a good electricalconnection therebetween.

From Fig. l it will be observed that the inner joint bar has its upperportion cut away forming a flange receiving concavity D2 below the levelof the head of the rail, while the outer joint bar extends up and hasits upper face substantially flush with the top of the rail head; thus,a wheel traveling on the rail may take a bearing on the upper face oftheouter joint bar in traveling past the ends of the rails andconsequently, should any defect develop in the rail ends, the entirestrain of the load will be carried and the wheel guided by the jointbars themselves. rlhe joint bars are maintained in position through ananchorage to the chair which is of sufficient strength to carry anylload which may be imposed on the parts. On both sides of the rail thejoint bars fit solidly under the rail head so that the latter issupported and the web protected against undue strain at the points whereit is most liable to fail; t'. e., in proximity to the ends of the railsand where it is perforated for the reception of the stems.

rlhe openings formed in the web of the rail for the passage of the stemsare made of slightly greater diameter than the said stems, for thepurpose of permitting the rails to expand and contract under changes intemperature and the bars for uniting the ends of the rail together withthe bolts, it will be noted, are all so locked together that the lockingaction will not be interfered with or the parts loosened in any wise bythe movements of the rails in so expanding or contracting. Y

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

l. In a rail joint a T-rail having an ordinary plane-faced webperforated transversely, retaining bars dove-tail in cross sec-- tionseparably secured to opposite sides of the web, and joint bars havingdove-tail grooves in their inner faces arranged to be driven over theretaining bars, whereby the retaining bar securing means are Yconcealedand held in position.

2. In a rail joint, the combination with a T-rail having an ordinaryplane-faced web perforated transversely, of a retaining bar located onone side of said web and having securing stems thereonfpassing throughthe perforations in the web with transverse grooves in proximity to theends of said stems, a retaining bar mounted on said ends of the stems onthe opposite side of the web, a longitudinally movable key bar mountedin the grooves in the stems and a joint bar having its inner facerecessed to receive the retaining bar, key bar and ends of the stems.

3. ln a rail joint, the combination with a T-rail having an Ordinaryplane-faced web perforated transversely, retaining bars located onopposite sides of said web, stems connecting said retaining bars throughthe perforations in the web, and detachable fastening means interposedbetween one of said retaining bars and the stems, whereby the parts maybe separated, and joint, bars inclosing said retaining bars and stems onopposite sides of the rail, said joint bars embodying dove-tail recessesfor the reception of the retaining bars, whereby the joint bars are heldin posit-ion to support and connect proximate ends of adjacent rails.

4l. ln a rail joint, the combination with a T-rail having an ordinaryplane-faced web perforated transversely, retaining bars of dove-tailform in cross section located on opposite sides of said web, stemsconnecting said bars through the perforations in the web, and a key barcooperating With the stems on the outer side of one of said retainingbars, of joint bars having their inner faces formed with dovetailgrooves arranged to be driven over the retaining bars, key bar andstems, substantially as described.

5. In a rail joint, the combination With a rail chair having alongitudinal rail seat therein and longitudinal grooves on the outersides of said seat, of rails having their proximate ends mounted in saidseat, retaining bars located on opposite sides of the rail Webs andbridging the joint between the ends of the rail, said retaining barsbeing of dove-tail form in cross section, stems connecting saidretaining bars through the rail web, and oint bars having their innerfaces provided With dove-tail grooves for the reception of the retainingbars and at their lower outer edges provided with flanges seating in thelongitudinal grooves in the rail chair.

6. In a rail joint, the combination With the proximate ends of adjacentrails, retaining bars of dove-tail form in cross section located onopposite sides of the rail webs and bridging the joint between therails, stems connecting said connecting bars through the rail webs andheads or enlargements on the retaining bars, of joint bars having theirinner faces formed with dovetail grooves for the reception of theretaining bars, said joint bars being seated on and held in place by theretaining bars with their ends in engagement with the heads orenlargements thereon for limiting relative longitudinal movement.

7. In a rail joint, the combination with the rail chair havinglongitudinal grooves therein, rails seated on said chair with their endsin proximity, retaining bars separately secured on opposite sides of therail web, said retaining bars being of dove-tail term in cross sectionand joint bars having their lower edges flanged and seating in thegrooves in the rail chair and their inner faces grooved longitudinallyto receive and conceal the retaining bars, said retaining bars servingto hold the joint bars in position, the inner joint bar having its upperedge cut away to form a wheel flange recess and the outer joint barhaving its upper portion provided with a face substantially flush withthe top tace of the rail head, substantially as described.

JAMES L. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

VILLIAM S. Pmcnn'r'r, THoMAs H. BUCKLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patent, Washington, D. C.

